The inventive subject matter relates to drive circuits for semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to resonant drive circuits.
Semiconductor switching devices, such as MOSFETs and IGBTs, are commonly used in power supply devices, such as switchmode power supplies, uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), motor drives and the like. At certain power levels and switching frequencies, the power dissipated by such switching devices may represent a large portion of overall system losses, especially under light loading conditions.
There are a variety of different techniques used to drive MOSFETs, IGBTs and similar devices. Among these are techniques that use resonant circuits. Examples of resonant drive circuits are described, for example, in “Half Bridge Resonant Driver for High Frequency Application,” by Delta Power Electronics Center (2010), “Resonant Gate Drive Techniques for Power MOSFETs,” CPES (May 2000) and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/968,861, entitled “Resonant Tank Drive Circuits for Current-Controlled Semiconductor Devices,” filed Dec. 15, 2010.